Urban Landmark, Daireaux

Creating an urban landmark for the centenary of the Daireaux district involves a twofold commitment. In the first instance, it leads us to reflect on what a contemporary urban landmark should be. Secondly, and of essential importance, it requires us to look more deeply into the people — the citizens of Daireaux — to understand their identity, their culture, and their aspirations.

A landmark is a fixed point of civic recognition with symbolic meaning, with which citizens must feel identified. It must reaffirm the values shared by society. It must guarantee its appropriation by offering a function that is not merely communicative.

We aim to design a landmark that is representative of its community — inclusive, equalising, interpreting its cultural, symbolic, practical, and constructive traditions. The founding of Daireaux did not occur instantaneously; it was the result of the sustained action of its population, arriving from different places, with diverse professions and varied skills, who through their will, actions, work, and projects produced a founding act through time and built a certain identity out of their diversity. For this reason, Daireaux can be said to be the product of a «continuous, participatory, and multiple founding».

Urban value. The Carlé axis presents two clearly differentiated edges in the intervention area. The northwest edge traces a path along almost the entire axis, passing through the Quinta Municipal, the Club Bancarios, and ending at the Virgen María at the junction with Route 65. The southeast edge remains more intact and natural. The project proposes to strengthen the existing character of both edges in order to emphasise the axis.

Sequential landmark. We propose a sequential, continuous and participatory landmark that incorporates symbolic value and spaces for community enjoyment. We designed a sequence of «beacons» — vertical elements that consolidate the linear axis of access road J. Carlé. These are variable elements, different in some respects and equal from another point of view. They represent the people of Daireaux; they are an expression of continued diversity with the aim of forming a common element, just as it was during the genesis of Daireaux, just as it is now.

The amenities — enabling leisure, recreation and sport — foster a plurality of social relations and aim for the community's appropriation of the space. From Route 65, the sequence of «beacons» is identified, alluding to and commemorating the diversity of Daireaux's citizens while illuminating and giving hierarchy to the city's entry.